Life
by Boketto
Summary: ...will go on. Percy and Annabeth have to do something after the war, right?"
1. Chapter 1

I don't own anything

Percy was completely and utterly exhausted.

It took the last few ounces of energy he had in him to put his arm around Annabeth and to walk back to his cabin. His eyes were already closing, but he still got a glimpse of Annabeth waving to the rest of the seven, then they shut completely for a second. He tried to force them back up, but his eyes didn't seem to be cooperating with him, and he was still so tired that he didn't feel as if he could make it to his cabin.

He heard Annabeth yawn next to him, and managed to open his eyes the slightest bit so he could see his cabin in the distance. Before he knew it, his feet had carried him to the familiar steps of his cabin.

All he could think of was that he really needed a shower. He would've gotten up to go and have one, but the muscles in his body didn't want to move an inch from the warmth of his bed and Annabeth, who was still sleeping comfortably on his arm.

Sighing, he closed his eyes again, content with being covered in grime for a few more hours until Annabeth woke up. Before he could be lulled back to sleep by the sound of Annabeth's breathing, he heard a knock on the door.

Too lazy to get up, he cracked one eye open and grumbled. The annoying person at the door took that as a 'come in', and opened the door to his cabin.

"Percy? Chiron sent me to ask you if you wanted any food." Rachel says, holding the door fully open so bright sun came streaming into the room.

It took Percy a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the light, and for a few seconds he remembers the never ending darkness of Tartarus, but the memory is soon gone when Rachel steps in front of him, frowning as he groans and covers his eyes.

Next to him, Annabeth rolls onto her side, and then shoots up suddenly, breathing hard. Percy puts a hand on her shoulder and mumbles something about going back to sleep, but it's too late, and her eyes are open and she's focused on Rachel, who is standing there awkwardly, holding a plate of sandwiches.

Annabeth's eyes light up when she sees both Rachel and the food, and she stands up shakily and goes to hug Rachel. He groans some more, than follows her example and does the same thing. He makes sure to keep the hug short because he's pretty sure he doesn't smell too pleasant right now.

They are silent for a moment, Percy and Annabeth eating the food messily while Rachel stands there, observing the two of them.

"So..." Rachel says. "How have you guys been doing?"

Percy lets out a snort and says, "Us? Oh, we've been fine. Nothing _that_ interesting. How 'bout you? Any new prophecies we should know about?"

Annabeth laughs a little, and Rachel manages a smile. They fall back into silence, until Annabeth stands.

"I'm gonna go take a shower."

She walks slowly over to Percy's bathroom, and they can see the extent of her injuries cleary. She is covered in tiny scratches everywhere, with a large one on her leg and one on her lower back that has cut through her already mangled shirt. She is holding her wrist stiffly, and he curses quietly under his breath when he sees the fresh bruise beginning to turn purple there.

"I'm gonna go get you guys some Ambrosia and Nectar." Rachel says quietly, turning to leave.

"How are the others? Is anyone hurt?" Percy says, suddenly alert.

"They're all fine. Leo's asleep in his cabin, but he managed to break his ankle and one toe. Jason and Piper are eating at the mess hall and Hazel and Frank are still sleeping in the Big House." She says.

"And Nico? Reyna?" He asks, eyes full of worry.

"They're at the Roman Camp. Nico's been shadow traveling kids around all day."

Percy gave her a questioning look.

"A few of the campers wanted to go home to see their mom or dad. Most just tried to IM, but some of the younger kids..."

When he nodded in understanding, she smiled at him and walked away.

Once she was gone, Percy flops down onto his bed to wait for Annabeth to get out of the shower.

He doesn't have to wait long, only fifteen minutes until she comes out, steam rushing out of the bathroom with her, wearing a fluffy green towel of his.

"Rachel's gone to get ambrosia and nectar for us." Percy says, answering her question before she even asked it.

"You're gonna need to get someone from the Apollo cabin to fix your wrist, though, it might be sprained, or broken. Ambrosia won't fix that completely." Percy continues, shooting a glance to her bruised wrist.

She nods at him, and he relaxes a little, knowing that her injuries aren't that bad that she needed to go to the infirmary.

"You gonna go for a shower?" Annabeth asks, grabbing an extra towel and using it to dry her damp hair. She looks like she was having trouble keeping the towel on her body up while drying her hair using only one hand.

"Probably. You're hogging all the towels, though." Percy says, smiling slightly

'"Idiot. You don't need a towel." She says, even though she laughs slightly when she says it.

Finally clean and smelling a whole lot better than he had before, he walks out completely dry wearing a camp T-shirt and a pair of shorts that Paul had given him.

Annabeth's sitting on the edge of his bed, wearing one of his camp T-shirt and a pair of his old shorts that he had outgrown. Grover is next to her, holding a baggie of ambrosia and laughing at something she said.

"Perce! I haven't seen you in forever!" He says

"Grover!" Percy replies, hugging him with one arm.

"How's being Lord of the Wild working out for you?" He asks

"Fine. I still haven't gotten used to all the young satyrs and dryads looking at me like I'm some kinda _god_, or something. It's kinda creepy." He replies, shuddering slightly, "No offence." He adds, staring up at the ceiling.

"Do you guys still have that empathy link?" Annabeth cuts in, looking at both of them with narrowed eyes. " 'Cause that coulda helped a lot when Percy was…you know, _kidnapped._" She adds, glaring up at the ceiling like it had personally wronged her.

"Um… I think we still have it, but it wasn't working too well…" Grover says. "Like the IM'ing, that wasn't working either during the war."

Annabeth nods, looking at them thoughtfully.

"So..." Percy asks, looking around. "Where's Juniper?"

"Sick. Some idiot camper decided to hit her with an arrow so she's not been feeling too well." Grover says, making a sour face.

"Ah." Percy says, thinking back to the time when _he_ accidentally hit a dryad with riptide and she went crazy on him. Literally, she started screaming things like 'Curse you, idiot Demigods!' and scratching him before he ran away.

"Oh! Here, have some." Grover says, handing him the bag of ambrosia.

"Thanks." Percy says, taking some. They taste like cookies to him, and he realizes with a start that he hasn't seen his mom for almost a year.

"I should probably IM mom, shouldn't I?" He says, sheepishly.

Annabeth rolls her eyes at him. "Obviously, Seaweed Brain. She hasn't seen you for, like, a year."

He chuckles, shoving her half-heartedly. "Hey! Not my fault, okay!"

He goes over to the fountain that's been stored away in the corner of his cabin and manipulates the water to make a rainbow.

"O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering." He says, tossing a drachma into the mist and waiting for it to disappear before saying, "Sally Jackson, New York."

The mist shimmers and his mom appears. She is holding a laundry basket, standing next to the dryer.

Percy clears his throat slightly and says, "Hey mom."

His mom jumps violently, dropping the basket of wet clothes and turning around to face the Iris Message.

"Percy! Oh, thank the Gods, you're alive!" She screams.

"_Sally? What's wrong?" _Paul's voice in the distance asks.

Paul runs into the laundry room, looking shaken up, wearing his pajamas and holding a toothbrush. His eyes widen comically when he sees Percy and he stands there, gaping.

"You scared us to death! Where were you?" Sally asks, trying to be stern but having trouble fighting the smile on her face.

"Well… I was, never mind, I'll tell when I get back home." Percy says

His mother doesn't look pleased, but she nods. "Are you hurt? Where's Annabeth?"

Annabeth drags herself off the bed and joins Percy, "Hi Sally, Paul. We're fine, just a little tired."

Sally sighs, leaning back against Paul for support. "When are you guys coming home?"

"It's almost the end of summer, so soon." Percy answers, putting his arm around Annabeth

Grover jumps off the bed, joining the other two. "Hey Mrs. Jackson, Paul. How've you two been doing?" He says, waving at them through the Iris message.

"Hi, Grover." Sally says, giving him a small smile. Paul looks a little thrown at the sight of the horns and furry legs, but he lets it go without saying anything.

"I'll IM you later, mom." Percy says.

"And I'll make sure he doesn't forget." Annabeth adds from her place at his side.

Percy glares at her halfheartedly.

They say their goodbyes, and Percy swipes his hand through the mist and the picture disappears, taking his mother's teary face and Paul's surprised one with it.

"You are coming with me to New York, right?" Percy asks, turning to Annabeth.

"I'll have to ask dad, but I think he'll say yes." She replies.

"Why don't you do it now?" Grover asks "'Cause I think Chiron wants us to meet at the big house in a few hours. And the next day most of the campers go home.

"Summer's over already? Aw man, we get, like, no time to relax." Percy groans.

Grover nods his head and Annabeth shakes her head exasperatedly at both of them.

"How 'bout you, Grover? Where are you going?" Percy asks.

"Me? Oh, I'm going to Washington." He replies, looking slightly put out.

"Washington? Why?" Annabeth asks

"Mr. D has a daughter who lives over there. He says that she should be thirteen in a few days, so I'm going to make sure she gets to camp."

"Does he do that for all of his kids?" Percy asks.

"He only has, like, three kids. Well, two, after Castor died." He replies

"Oh." Percy says

"Anyway, are you going to call your dad?" Grover asks, suddenly switching topics.

Annabeth nods, then nudges Percy. He groans, but waves his arm and creates a mist.

"Hey, I'm gonna go, okay? I was supposed to go visit Juniper…" Grover says.

" Ok, bye man." Percy says and Annabeth waves goodbye at him, then turns back to the Iris Message.

"O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering." She says "Fredrick chase, California"

The picture shimmers and Annabeth's dad appears on the screen. He's watching T.V with Bobby, some cartoon that Annabeth herself never watched.

"Dad." Mr. Chase doesn't look up from the show he's watching, so Annabeth repeats it again. "_Dad_"

Bobby turns his head slightly to the left and his eyes widen comically. He pokes Mr. Chase in the stomach, gesturing to the Iris Message.

Mr. Chase finally turns his head and for a while all he does is gape.  
"Annabeth? Where were you? Why didn't you call me?"

"Sorry dad, we were a bit busy." Annabeth says, a ghost of a smile on her face.

"Busy? With what?" He asks

Annabeth opens her mouth to speak, but closes it.

"Well…" She begins

"Long story short, we went to Greece, fought a war, and won." Percy cuts in.

Her father's jaw drops even lower and he starts spluttering.

Annabeth slaps Percy on his chest before asking, "Dad… Are you alright?"

Fredrick Chase stops spluttering long enough to say "Are _you_ alright? Any injuries?"

"I'm fine, dad. Anyway, I wanted to ask you if I could go to New York instead of coming to California for school." She says

"You want to go to New York? Where would you stay?" He asks

"She'd stay with us." Percy says.

Annabeth turns her head towards him and arches her eyebrow at him.

"What?" He says in response to her look, "Mom and Paul wouldn't mind."

She shakes her head at him, turning back to her dad.

"Okay." He says grudgingly, "But you have to come down here during a weekend sometime."

Annabeth smiles at him and says bye to her dad and to Bobby, who is still sitting there, shocked, as he stares at the Iris Message.

"Well, that's done." She says, turning back to Percy.

"Yep." He says, "Hey, what time did Grover say that we had to go to the Big House?"

"Not for a few hours." She says

"I'm gonna take a nap till then." He replies

"I'll join you" She says.

They huddle back up on the bed, and Percy falls asleep immediately with his head on Annabeth's chest. Annabeth runs her fingers through Percy's hair for a while until she falls asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own anything.

It was so foreign, yet completely familiar. Being back at camp after almost a year of being missing had made Percy realize exactly how much he'd missed this.

The Big House looked exactly like it was before, with the exception of a rather large wine colored sofa sitting in the middle of the living room.

He takes Annabeth's hand as he walks inside, leading her to the room with the Ping-Pong table and a bunch of cabin leaders clustered around it. He can already see Jason and Piper sitting in some chairs off to one side, and Hazel is on the other side, dozing off with a cup of coffee in her hands.

He opens his mouth to ask where Leo and Frank are when the two of them come bursting in, both panting heavily as though they had just run a mile.

"Did you guys run here, or something?" Katie asks

Frank glares at Leo from where he stands bent over with is hands on his knees. "This idiot made Thalia mad."

"It was an accident, okay!" Leo snaps back at him

Jason looks faintly amused " What did you do, Leo?"

At his question, Leo winces.

"He managed to melt part of her circle-thing." Frank says, glancing at Leo.

"Her circlet, you mean?" Annabeth asks

"Yeah, that thing." Frank says sheepishly.

"It wasn't my fault! She was in the way!" Leo protests

"For whatever reason, his hair was on fire and he was shooting random bursts of fire everywhere while he was trying to put it out." Frank says

Annabeth glares at Leo half-heartedly, but he knows her well enough to see the hint of a smile appearing on her face. "You managed to hit her in the head with a ball of fire?"

"Um, yeah… woops?" Leo says, chuckling nervously

"What did she do?" He asks, grinning amusedly.

"She zapped Leo a few times before we started running. " Frank says "Do you know how hard it was to run and drag you with me at the same time?

Leo looks down at his broken toe and shrugs." Yeah, sorry 'bout that." Leo says, looking not the least bit sorry.

Chiron clears his throat, his eyes twinkling as he listens to Leo and Frank bicker over whose fault it was.

"Alright, I've called you hear because we need to discuss what to do with the Athena Parthenos." He says gravely

In his chair, Percy coughs, looking amused. "I thought he was going to tell us that there would be another Great Prophecy." He whispers into her ear from where she is sitting on the handle of his chair.

Annabeth gives a small snort, and whispers back, "I can actually imagine that, with your luck."

"Hey! Don't you remember who I'm named after?" He whisper-shouts back.

"Your mom was completely off." She says back and he has a hard time keeping the smile off his face.

"She wasn't _that_ off." He says quietly with a teasing smile on his face.

She gives him that look that screams 'You're an idiot', but he can see the look in her eyes that makes him smile at her like a dope.

Everyone turns to stare at them and Annabeth says quickly, "Don't mind us. Carry on, Chiron."

They all give them puzzled looks, but Chiron ignores them and starts speaking.

"We can either put it in Camp Jupiter, leave it here, or…" Chiron hesitates "We can build a place for it in Athens."

"Athens?" Piper asks. "You want to put it all the way in Greece?"

"Greece?" Chiron asks. "No, not Greece. There's a lovely little village here in New York named Athens."

"Oh! I've been there! It was pretty." Katie nods her head approvingly.

Most of the people there nod their heads, but Will still looks confused. "Wouldn't the mortals be confused if we start building a temple in the middle of their town?"

"It wouldn't be in the _middle_ of it." Malcom says, rolling his eyes at Will

"If you agree, we would build it on a private property hidden in the woods, much like our camp is."

"Frank? You speak for the Romans, so your vote will count as the whole Roman camp's." Chiron says

Frank looks uncomfortable. "Erm… Shouldn't we ask Reyna?"

Chiron nods and Percy waves his hand, instantly creating a mist. "O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, show me Reyna, Camp Jupiter." Chiron says to the mist.

"How come you don't need to pay a drachma?" Leo asks

"I did a favor for her a long time ago…" Chiron says, waving his hand absentmindedly.

The picture appears suddenly, a pissed-looking Reyna standing next to a smug Octavian on the screen.

"Ah, Miss Reyna." Chiron says to her and she nods at him in greeting.

"We've been discussing the issue of the Athena Parthenos." Chiron says. "My suggestion is that we keep it in Athens."

Octavion butts in, saying "Why would you put it in a place out of the God's domain?"

"Not in the original Athens. The one in New York."

Reyna shoots Octavian a hard look and steps in front. "Okay. Do you know whose going to be building the temple for it?"

Chiron looks at Annabeth, but she shakes her head ruefully. "Sorry Chiron, I still haven't finished Olympus yet."

"How 'bout you, Malcom?" Annabeth asks

"Me?" The person is question says

"Yeah, you. " Annabeth says

"Umm… Okay, I'd have to get a car to drive there, but … Okay."

"How come it has to be in New York? That's so far away from our Camp!" Octavian says

"It's a Greek Statue, Octavian; they should have it closer to them." Rena says, looking exasperated.

"It's fine with us, Chiron; you can put it in Athens." Reyna continues, oblivious to Octavian's scowl.

Chiron nods and ends the Iris message.

"Do any of you know if you are going to be staying here for the summer?" Chiron asks, changing the topic abruptly

"Yeah." Clarisse nods. "Chris' gonna be staying here too."

"Annabeth?" Chiron asks

"Nope, not this year. I'm staying in New York, though." Annabeth answers

"New York? Where are you going to stay?" Malcom asks, looking confused. "I though your dad lived in California?"

"He does, I'm just staying with Percy. It's also easier 'cause I'm closer to Olympus here."

Malcom accepts this with a nod.

"What are you guys doing?" Percy asks to everyone

"I'm going to stay with my dad in one of his houses in California." Piper says.

"Is he filming another movie?" Katie asks

"Yeah. It's another one of those Spartan movies that _everybody _loves." Piper replies, rolling her eyes

Frank crinkles his nose. "I saw his first one. That is _not _what my dad looks like."

"What are you doing until camp starts again, Frank?" She asks

"I'm staying at camp with Hazel. I kinda have to, being praetor and all…"

"I'm going back to school near Camp." Jason adds.

"Leo? What about you?" He asks

Leo rubs his hand over his face. "I dunno. I'm probably gonna try to repair Festus and figure out how to work the astrolabe and the crystal…"

"What are you talking about?" Frank asks

Leo blushes and says "What? Nothing, never mind."

Piper gives him a strange look, but he ignores it. "Are we done, Chiron?"

"Yes. " He says

Leo looks out the window and gulps when he sees Thalia stomping towards the Big House with a scowl on her face.

"I gotta go guys…" With that, Leo takes off running through the back door.

Jason groans and follows him , muttering something about 'saving him from my sister'.

Frank, Hazel and Piper walk after them. Annabeth was just about to follow after them, but she was stopped by Chiron.

"Annabeth, your mother wants you to come up to Olympus to discuss a temple Ares wants built." Chiron says, and she groans

"Already? It hasn't even been a day since the war." She says

"Yes, well Lady Athena is very punctual." Chiron says, looking at her sympathetically.

"Percy, your father has requested you to be there as well." He continues

Percy's face lights up, and he turns to Annabeth with a pleading look on his face. "C'mon Wise Girl."

Her face softens and she says "Fine. But only for a few days. School starts in a week, you know."

He doesn't say anything, but he smiles at her cheekily.

"I'm sure Argus will let you use one of the vans." Chiron says and they take that as their cue to leave.

He can hear Katie shouting at Travis back in the big house as he leaves, and Clarisse laughing at something Chris says.

He puts his arm around her shoulders and they walk to Annabeth's cabin, pausing only to laugh at Leo being chased by Thalia, who was being chased by a laughing Jason.

"Do you think we should help…?" Percy asks

"Nah. Once you get Thalia mad, you better just wait it out." She replies, chuckling as she watches Leo jump after being shocked by lighting.

Percy grabs a few drachmas from her bedside table and she gathers up all of the dusty old blueprints left on her bed from before the war.

"Bye guys!" She shouts to the entire camp watching Leo getting beaten up by Thalia, who ignores Leo for a second and runs over to hug Annabeth.

"See ya later, cuz." She says, ruffling Percy's hair.

He arches his eyebrow at her. "Hey!" He says, batting away her hand. "I'm older than you now. You're not allowed to do that."

"Technically, I'm three years older than you." She says, sticking her tongue out at him.

He crinkles her nose at her, and she flips him off while Annabeth is busy giving Piper and Hazel a hug.

He puts a mock- offended look on his face and gasps "Oh no you-"

He is off when Annabeth turns around to them with a suspicious look on her face. "What are you guys doing?"

"Nothing." They say simultaneously with matching guilty looks on their faces.

Annabeth shakes her head but ignores it.

He takes her hand and pulls her away while waving at Leo who was still lying on the floor groaning in pain.

"See you later, guys!" He yells to Frank and Jason who wave back in reply.


End file.
